Philipp Kirschner

Philipp Kirschner

Research group Biodiversity

Academic staff

Room number 415b

Philipp.Kirschner@uibk.ac.at

+43 512 507 51095

“I investigate how past environmental and climatic changes have influenced genetic diversity, population structure, and species distributions in mountain systems. In my research, I integrate phylogeography, phylogenomics, and population genomics. Using genomic data, I reconstruct the evolutionary histories of species. I am particularly interested in the effects of historical climate dynamics, especially during the Pleistocene, on the expansion, contraction, fragmentation, and survival of populations. As model systems, I focus on plants and insects from mountainous regions. More recently, I have also been working on the conservation genetics of alpine endemics and linking alpine ecology with evolutionary processes. My goal is to understand the mechanisms that drive diversification, isolation, and evolutionary resilience in mountain systems. Since 2025, I have been a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher in the Biodiversity research group.”

Projects

Selected publications

  • Kirschner, P., Perez, M.F., Záveská, E. et al. 2022. Congruent evolutionary responses of European steppe biota to late Quaternary climate change. Nature Communications, 13/1, Article number: 1921 (2022). doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29267-8
  • Kirschner, P., Záveská, E., Gamisch, A. et al. 2020. Long-term isolation of European steppe outposts boosts the biome’s conservation value. Nature Communications volume 11, Article number: 1968 (2020). doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15620-2
  • Voisin, C., Kirschner, P., Záveská, E., Frajman, B., Hülber, K., Wessely, J., Willner, W., Schönswetter, P., Carnicero, P. 2025. Spatiotemporal Diversification of Forest Understorey Species Reveals the Existence of Multiple Pleistocene Forest Refugia in Central Europe. Molecular Ecology, Volume 35. doi.org/10.1111/mec.70200Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
  • Kirschner, P., Záveská, E., , Hülber, K., Wessely, J., Willner, W., Schönswetter, P., Frajman, B. 2023. Evolutionary dynamics of Euphorbia carniolica suggest a complex Plio–Pleistocene history of understorey species of deciduous forest in southeastern Europe. Molecular Ecology, Volume 32, Issue 19. doi.org/10.1111/mec.17102
  • Kirschner, P., Seifert, B., Kröll, J., STEPPE Consortium, Schlick‐Steiner, B.C., Steiner, F.M. 2022. Phylogenomic inference and demographic model selection suggest peripatric separation of the cryptic steppe ant species Plagiolepis pyrenaica stat. rev.. Molecular Ecology, Volume 32, Issue 5. doi.org/10.1111/mec.16828

All publications Orcid Research Gate Google Scholar

Additional research achievements

Teaching

  • Biogeography
  • Evolution
  • Genomics
  • Bioinformatics
  • Vegetation of selected habitats

Courses

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